AMERICA/BRAZIL - WYD: Success of Missionary Week and in particular the meetings on peace

Monday, 22 July 2013

Petropolis (Agenzia Fides) - There were about 1,800 young people from El Salvador, Guatemala, the Philippines, Venezuela and Colombia who reached the parish of Guapimirim in the Diocese of Petrópolis, in the state of Rio de Janeiro and actively participated in the Missionary Week, which mobilized the entire Brazilian Church. Missionary Week (see Fides 19/07/2013) was the event in preparation for World Youth Day, which officially begins on Tuesday, July 23 with the presence of Pope Francis.
According to information sent to Fides Agency, more than 400 young people arrived from Guatemala to participate in Missionary Week: young people had been preparing themselves for a year with retreats, local pilgrimages, formation courses and other activities. 900 young people came from Colombia, but the complete delegation was over 2,500. Those who arrived before, took part in the Missionary Week to exchange experiences with other local Churches.
The reports of these delegations, sent to their communities of origin, emphasize the great reception of Brazilian families. Missionary Week was a great success both for the number of participants and for the quality of the events organized in the dioceses involved.
According to the testimonies sent to Fides, the young people stressed in particular the importance of one of the events: The "Mini Course for Operators of Peace". It had to do with a series of conferences held in the municipality of Port of Pedras, in order to promote a deep reflection on the culture of violence, to present the reasons that originate violence and stress the urgent need to put an end to this situation, seeking new group behaviors to act peacefully every day and become propagators of a culture of peace.
In addition to delegations from other countries, Missionary Week involved thousands of young Brazilians of various dioceses. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 22/07/2013)


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